


Til The Last Bullet

by RedHoodsDoll



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien has the ultimate fuck you to his dad, Adrinette, Aged Up, DJWifi, Dispatcher/Cop Au, F/F, F/M, Lukanette, M/M, Nino and Adrien are still buddies tho, They never got their kwamis or miraculouses, They never met in high school, Vigilante AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-16 18:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16959519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedHoodsDoll/pseuds/RedHoodsDoll
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl had dreamed of the world of fashion most of her high school career, but after visiting the police dispatch center at the heart of Paris, those dreams were dashed as she dove into the center of the danger in more ways than one. Now, as one of the best dispatchers that Paris has ever had, what happens when the new rookie joins the force and throws her for a loop? And what about that man in black that keeps foiling her plans after the sun goes down?





	1. The Beginning of Living

The door to the dispatch center slammed behind her. Marinette was livid. That rookie had gone into the scene of an assault call without his backup. He hadn't got shot, but he should have. Maybe he would have actually learned his lesson. Instead, he had sent her a cute little message that said ' _Worried about me, princess?_ _'_ She would show him one day. They would see each other at a banquet or something and she would rip him a new one. He was lucky that her radio transmissions were recorded otherwise she would have torn apart his ego on the air for everyone to hear.

Even slamming her car door and burning rubber as she peeled out of the parking lot didn't help her sour attitude. She debated on calling Alya and yelling about the rookie again, but for some reason her best friend had become protective of the officer recently. Marinette wondered if Nino had told Alya to not let Marinette be so hard on him. 

Nino had joined the Paris police force the same year that Marinette had joined the dispatch center. They were known as the dynamic duo to anyone who heard the transmissions. Everyone wanted to work the same shift as them because they usually made the shift smooth for everyone. And when Nino and Alya had gotten married the year before, Marinette had been their maid of honor. Though Marinette barely remembered half the wedding reception since she had gotten wine drunk and hit on half of the officers there.

Marinette turned off her car once she was in her driveway. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead again the steering wheel. She was determined that she would leave her anger in her car. She never took her job home with her. It would distract her from the rest of her evening activities. She got out and walked through the down pour and onto her porch. She unlocked the front door and stepped inside. She dropped her keys onto the entry hall table and shrugged off her uniform jacket that she draped onto a hook. She kicked off her work boots and shut the door behind her.

"Chloe?" She shouted. She heard the television playing in the living room and was surprised that her newest roommate hadn't said hi when she walked in. The blonde had a falling out with her father and had no where else to go. Not after the trouble she had gotten herself into, so Marinette had took pity on her and let her take one of her guest bedrooms as long as she promised to clean herself up. So far there hadn't been any problems, but the sinking feeling in her stomach was making her nervous.

She opened the drawer that was on the front of her entry hall table. She grabbed the gun out of it and clicked off the safety. Marinette was as fearless as they came. Her emotions never clouded her judgement. Not even when a child was screaming on the other end of the emergency call line. So when her roommate who had a dark past suddenly wasn't responding to her, she was on high alert. Especially since her night job had the tendency to follow her home. She didn't exactly live in the nicest neighborhood of Paris, but it was exactly where she wanted to be.

She stepped along the hall, avoiding the floorboards that creaked the loudest. She had memorized her home from top to bottom. She even knew which shingles she could step on without letting anyone in her home know she was on the roof. Following procedure, she let her gun pivot the corner into her living room before she followed it. But when her eyes locked onto Chloe, her mind stopped working how it was supposed to.

"You okay, Chloe?" Marinette finally asked.

"I'm sorry Mari," Chloe whimpered. The blonde currently had a gun resting on her cheek and a large male holding her arms against her waist.

Marinette made a show of gingerly setting the gun on the floor. "I'm not a cop, just a dispatcher. Let her go, and you can leave here without me calling it in." 

"We're not here for her anyways." The man said as he threw Chloe and aimed the gun at Marinette. She lifted her hands and scanned the room. He wasn't here alone. But it was already too late for her to do anything about it. She spotted the second man as he thrust a blade into her stomach. Most would have doubled over screaming, instead she turned and slammed her fist into his jaw. He stumbled back and yanked the knife out of her stomach. That caused her to grunt and grab her wound. 

"Run!" She shouted at Chloe, who was just staring at her. It spurred the blonde into running past her and out the front door. Marinette was faintly aware that she was screaming for help, but no one was going to help someone like her in a neighborhood like this. Not even if she went running out screaming bloody murder. Marinette's house was known as one of the safest places in the neighborhood, but that didn't make it safe.

The sound of a gun going off almost blurred out the feeling of heat as something fast and painful ripped through her shoulder. The familiar tearing sensation made her want to throw up as she dropped the her knees. The man stood over her and kicked her in the center of her chest. She fell backwards, knocking her head into the tv stand. "This is for Papillon." The man said as he pressed down on her chest, hard. She screamed as her ribs popped and he took aim, sending another slug into her stomach. "Don't stop thinking about him as you bleed out, little bug."

The men walked away from her as she reached out. Marinette's hand closed around cold metal grip and she aimed the gun with a shaky bloody hand. One shot was all she needed. It wouldn't be that hard after all the years of practice. She squeezed the trigger and listened as it hit home with a wet smack after the bang. The man who had stabbed her quickly grabbed his rib cage in shock. She used the surprise as a moment to turn the gun onto the other man and take aim. She quickly pulled the trigger but this time the bullet didn't hit home. It just missed it's target and shot off into the hallway.

"Stupid bitch!" The man shot at her again, this time nicking her in her left bicep. She dropped the gun and fell backwards. She blinked her eyes rapidly as the reality of the pain she was in set into her body. The men ran and she dragged her phone out of her front pocket. She quickly dialed and lifted the phone to her ear.

"Paris Central Police Dispatch, what's the location of your emergency." Marinette would know that voice anywhere.

"Dotty, it's Mari."

"Mari, baby, what's going on?"

"I, send units to my house. There was a break in. They shot me and my roommate went running. I need medical attention, but I don't want to speak to the medics right now, I need to tell you everything that just happened in case I don't make it." Marinette hissed out the last word as she applied pressure on her stomach, trying to follow the medical protocol to the best of her knowledge.

Dotty gasped on the other end of the line and Marinette could hear the keys clicking. "It was two men. Both had large and tall statures and were wearing dark colored suits. The one had dark facial hair and the other who was slightly shorter had a baby face and was wearing a beret that was also dark in color. Both were white males approximately 30 years old. They uh," Marinette stopped to think.

"Stay with me darling, keep talking to me." Dotty encouraged her.

"God this hurts. Um, they smelled like cigarettes, but not like they were heavy smokers. The taller one had a wedding ring and the other one wasn't wearing any rings but had tattoos on his knuckles." Marinette blinked at the ceiling.

"Why were they there?"

"Dotty, you know why."

"On the record dear," Dotty reminded her. 

Marinette took a shaky breath. "Because I help the kids in the neighborhood get clean and stay out of the gangs. They were probably enforcers that got mad that I was getting in their way to new recruits."

Dotty stopped typing. "Mari, come on, keep talking to me or else I'm going to put you through to the medics so that they can help you more."

"They won't be able to help me much. Are the units en route?" Marinette's tongue felt like molasses. Her words sounded slurred and like they were slowing. She could feel the blood seeping underneath her hand. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation, but she knew she was losing blood fast.

"They're almost there, stay awake girl. We can't afford to lose you."

"Okay. I, I love my parents Dotty. They need to know that. I know they're not happy with me, but I love them. I know they love me. And Nino and Alya. They've always been the best of friends I could ask for. And even that rookie. He's not horrible. He's doing his best." Marinette knew she was rambling. She dropped the phone and groaned as she applied pressure to her shoulder wound as well. She could hear Dotty shouting her name repeatedly on the other end of the phone and knew the dispatcher would be panicking quickly.

Marinette could feel the pain, but it didn't seem to hurt. She knew that would be the shock setting in on her body. She reached up and grabbed the edge of her tv stand. She twisted the key that sat in the lock and yanked it free. She threw the key and watched it clatter down the vent. She didn't know want anyone to know her secret if she lived. She wanted it to go with her to her grave. And that's exactly what would happen if she didn't make it out of here tonight. She took a shaky breath and tried to keep the pressure but it felt like her bones had been replaced with sponges and her muscles turned into overcooked noodles.

Her heart beat was thunderous as her front door slammed back open. Her head dropped towards the doorway and she watched in awe as an officer entered the living room. He quickly cleared it and ran to her side. "Alright Marinette, I'm here. We're gonna get you out of here."

"Chloe."

"What?" He asked as he began to apply pressure to her wounds in place of her hands. She hadn't even realized he had moved her hands out of the way.

"Roommate. Find." She croaked and gasped, but it sounded years away from where she was. 

"Stay with me. We'll find Chloe. Right now I'm worried about getting you out of here alive." He grabbed his radio. "Dispatch, how far out are the medics? She's conscious and breathing, but she's lost a lot of blood."

The static that burst out of his radio made Marinette flinch. It sounded foreign to her even though she listened to it everyday at work. Her head dropped away and the officer grabbed her and yanked her back towards him. "Stay with me, Princess."

She glared up at him through her eyelashes. "Agreste?" Her voice squeaked as she spoke, her mouth felt like there was cotton balls shoved in it. The blonde hair seemed to shine in the dim light of her home. But those green eyes, they looked brighter than any jewel she had ever seen.

"Yeah, DC. You can chew me out later for not doing my job right, but I'm keeping you alive now. Stick with me, I'm getting you out of here." There was some shouts from the front door and the next thing Marinette knew, was that she was being pulled onto a stretched by 3 men and then she was out in the cold air. Her vision blacked and the next thing she knew was that the world was too bright. The sound of a siren seemed foreign, and the way her body was moving without her moving it felt weird. The static of a radio was close to her right side, and there was a hand clamped around hers. Someone shouted that her vitals were stabilizing.

She turned her head and caught sight of him again. The rookie that she was always so hard on because he made rash decisions. The glaring light was nothing compared to how bright his face seemed. When his eyes landed on her, the world stopped for a moment. "You're going to get through this, DC. I can't let my number one fan die on me." He teased. His words struck something in her. He wasn't being obnoxious, he was being kind. The slight smile and the squeeze of his hand made her heart leap, but she didn't know why as her eyes rolled back in her head again.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was one tough cookie, but even the most rough and tough people couldn't take everything the world threw at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter One starts with quite the bang ;) Hope you like it! Don't forget to bookmark and comment!


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette was sitting on a hard chair. She glanced at her arms and legs and noted that she was chained to the chair. She glanced up and made eye contact with a familiar man. His pale hair shimmered in the light. His purple suit shined like polished armor. "It seems that I won, Ladybug."

"I'm not dead yet, Papillon. You'll see." 

She blinked and no longer was she staring at him, but looking up at a white ceiling. One glance down told her exactly where she was. She wasn't chained down, but tightly tucked into the hospital bed with wires crisscrossing her body. She groaned as she shifted her stiff limbs. She had to have laid in the same position for days based on her discomfort.

"Hang on there, tough one. You've been out for almost a week, slow down." A hand gently pressed on her upper chest and eased her back against the pillows once more. The bed slowly lifted her forward and she got a glimpse of messy blonde hair. 

"What?" She gasped. Her throat had a stabbing pain when she tried to speak. He quickly grabbed her a cup of water and lifted it to her lips. He guided the straw so that she could easily drink. The water quenched her throbbing thirst and made her wake up a little more. She pushed the cup away and whispered, "Hospital?"

"Yeah, that's where you go when you get shot, whether you survive or not. You gave death a run for his money though." She cast her eyes on him and in the drug filled state she was in, she decided he was pretty handsome. He had a sharp jawline and high cheekbones that made him not look very officer like.

"That so," She coughed for a moment before finishing, "rookie?"

"Even on your death bed, you still can't let it go that I'm the newest member of the force?" He laughed. His teeth were straight and white, almost shinning in the hospital light. Marinette blinked and reached up to rub her eyes. She rolled her shoulders and ran her fingers through her hair, surprised to find it almost entirely smooth under her hands. "Oh, your fiance made sure to brush your hair for you."

"My what?" She spluttered. She was certain that even if she had head trauma, she would remember even having a boyfriend, let alone a fiance.

"Fiance? Luka? Blue hair? Plays guitar?" The officers eyes were wide as he stared at the woman who had survived being stabbed and shot 3 times.

Marinette let out a long breath and set her jaw. "That bitch. Is he still here?"

"Uh, he went to the cafeteria to eat while I was here to check in on you. Per the captain, of course." He stumbled over his words due to his shock. He hadn't expected to see her go from relaxed to down right angry in a matter of seconds.

"He's lucky that I'm stuck here, otherwise I'd go down there and beat him with my IV pole for telling everyone we're engaged. I dumped him three months ago." Officer Agreste flinched back like she had burned him. She keyed in on the motion and shifted up in her bed while smoothing her gown. "What?"

He gulped and raised his finger. "I may have been the one that called him because he was the only emergency contact besides Nino and Alya in your phone."

Marinette closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath of oxygen that wasn't forced into her by a tube. She focused on ignoring the simultaneous beeps, especially the one of her raising blood pressure and heart rate. She let it go and turned on him. "That's my fault, I should've deleted him out of there. Then again, I didn't expect to be shot in my own home." Her words brought that dawning realization on her. 

He watched as her eyes widened and she brought her hand down to her stomach. "The doctors said you'll make a full recovery. It was a clean through and through. No worries." He tried to calm her, but an alarm went off at the nurses desk, which brought a small dark haired woman into the room. She quickly began messing with Marinette's tubes and monitors while Marinette tried her best to keep the woman away from her.

"Officer, restrain her. I need to sedate her so that she doesn't undo her stitches." The nurse ordered him. Without hesitation, he stood and grabbed her wrists, careful to avoid her IV and electrodes. As he held her steady, he caught her gaze. It was then that he realized, this wasn't Marinette fearing the nurse, this was her resisting the sedative. She wasn't avoiding a needle, she was fighting to stay awake.

"She's helping you, come on DC, I've got you." Marinette turned on him and stared into his very soul with eyes filled with sapphire fire.

"No one's  _got_ me, Agreste. Especially not you. Fuck off." She spat as the nurse plunged a needle into her IV finally and pushed the plunger. He could see her anger fade and feel her muscles untense beneath his grip.

He didn't know what came over him, but he squeezed her wrists and helped her lean back comfortably. "Maybe that's how you see it, but I've got your back just as much as I have my partners." Her eyes fluttered shut and she went limp. He laid her arms beside her and smoothed out her bangs.

"Thank you, officer. Should've known she'd be a strong one after surviving that, but we're understaffed tonight." The nurse smiled before she walked out the door. Adrien Agreste slumped back into the stiff chair he'd been sitting in since he had arrived that evening. He glanced outside and noted that the sun was beginning to climb above the rooftops. He rubbed his head and sighed.

He pulled out his phone and dialed in the number for his Sargent, he wanted an update on the case. "Daniels. Talk."

"Hey Sarge, it's Agreste. What's new on the case?" He asked as he held his head in his hand while his elbow rested on his knee. His foot bounced with anxiety. It had been a long time and the only one who had the answers had been in a medically induced coma. Her roommate had disappeared and no one knew who she was. He only knew one Chloe and he doubted she would ever be caught dead in that neighborhood.

"Jack squat, rook. Give me some good news."

"She woke up." He offered, cringing at the gasp from his sargent. He was about to piss his off so bad. "The nurse sedated her again because she started to fight them."

"I said good news, dumb ass. This is making us look real bad, we can't even protect our own? Stay there until Lahiffe comes to relieve you. Then report to the station." Adrien dropped his head back, realizing he wouldn't be getting to bed any time soon. 

"Yes sir." The line clicked dead and he pocketed his phone. He stared at the ceiling. His brain was firing faster than it should have considering how exhausted he was. But he needed Marinette Dupain-Cheng awake and fast. She held the key to everything. Especially since he had to stay at the scene to keep it secured while the ambulance rushed his dying playful coworker to the hospital.

So he had secured the scene. And in doing so, he discovered a blood trail that didn't match what he had walked in on. There was a splatter that led away from the main scene. He had followed it and found blood drops on her register grate. When he had pulled it from the floor and seen that it wasn't an actual duct, but a safe box with a key resting on top, his heart had sped up. The safe was locked tight, but the key didn't open it. He closed the grate and had spotted the tv stand that had a key hole with blood fingerprints near it. 

Upon his instincts, he unlocked it and felt his blood drain out of his body and add onto the already bloody scene. Inside sat a pair of black leggings that had rips and cuts in them and coppery hues from blood stains, a red leather jacket with black dots, and the signature mask that had put the fear of a greater power into gangsters recently. He looked at the array of weapons that sat inside a duffel that the uniform sat on. He made a rash decision then and there. He swiped everything into the duffel, reopened the register, and placed the safe box inside as well. He zipped it shut and wiped down the blood that could incriminate with a tampered scene before running out the door and chucking the bag inside his patrol vehicle. 

The second officer had arrived on scene and he had helped him lay out the police tape. The next thing he knew, he was being sent to the hospital to wait out their real lead. And that was where he had stayed for the week. At her bedside. Praying she would wait so that he could come face to face with the infamous Ladybug. The vigilante who had gone where no cops would. She had taken down an entire gang at it's roots and cut the head off the snake of their organization. And here she was, an emergency dispatch veteran. He wanted to know what had changed her from taking and sending out calls to answering them herself. He wanted to know what drove her to that decision. Mainly because he had made it himself.

The door flew open and pulled him from his thoughts. "She woke up and I wasn't even here." The blue haired male ran over and set down a steaming cup of coffee before fussing over the bluenette.

"Yeah. While she was awake though, she made some interesting comments though." Luka turned his head up towards the officer who had risen to his full height.

"Did she say who did this to her?"

"No, but she did tell me she didn't have a fiancee and was single." His words made Luka visibly cringe and frown.

"Guess the cats out of the bag?" He shrugged.

Adrien shook his head. "You're trespassing, It's not visitor hours and you're not family. I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premise, sir." While he had come to get to know Luka and respect him, he didn't appreciate someone lying to him.

"Please, I love her and I need to be here for her." He begged as he stood up, still holding onto Marinette's hand.

Adrien widened his stance and rested his hand on his taser. "You've already lied to an officer and hospital staff personal which is illegal. Now go nicely and I won't bar you from entering this hospital at any time."

Luka hung his head and grabbed his jacket and his coffee. "I'll be back later."

"Only if she wants you here."

"Yeah. She will." Adrien had a feeling that she wouldn't, but his favorite dispatcher had surprised him before. He enjoyed their banter, both on the clock and off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, my hand slipped and I wrote another chapter of this instead of my other fic. Oh well, enjoy! Love, Emily


End file.
